Aloha Tiki Tribe!
A few more days of V.I.P.s and I'll have my life back... I cannot wait!
Everything was amazing... I didn't know half of what was going to happen ..happened! Big Thanks to everyone who came, and everyone in Kona who didn't know what we were doing! You are all awesome.

Now, I had to get a few hours of making da' Art in before I lost my mind!
It's been many days since I picked up a brush! LLT knows how it is when you are cut off from what feed your soul...so ...whew...gotta put that brush to the canvas just a little ...a=in a few days my world will go back to normal...

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
feels good after all the big party scene of halloween to be in the studio painting.
RED TIKI LOUNGE
24" x 30"

So, my Art-Agent walked in my studio, and in true Art -Agent fashion squints at the canvas and sez: "So. This is the only Brad tiki-shark Parker original painting, on the whole planet...that isn't sold."
I look up at him and say.
"Ah, it's not done."
He just looks back.
"Hmmm."

Snicker, WOW, he is such an Art-Agent! What is so funny about all this is... when I first asked him to "pose" as my agent. He said "No-way, I don't know anything about art or art galleries."
I said, don't worry. You look like an agent. I'll do the talking. And It totally worked! The gallery treated me with a complete different 'tude. I did this to finally get into a gallery here in Kailua-Kona. My work is a bit too "low-brow" for the usual Tourist gallery you find here. A lot of galleries closed the door in my face and said "Tiki Is DEAD. it won't SELL. Tourists don't get the retro stuff."

Well, they were sure wrong!

Now... let' see, my "art-agent's" got me into my local gallery - in the front window where ALL the tourists can see it and come in to ask "what is this tiki-art thing?" He got me into "La luz de Jesus Gallery" multiple times, got me an "artist retrospective" in the LA County museum system. And the last show here in Hawaii had the Mayor of the figgin' Big Island at it.. giving a speech! Well. I guess he's a "real Art-Agent" now.
He he he... and he thought he didn't know how... too funny!
But really, I owe him a ton. He really made it all work. Even when he didn't know how, he tried, and made it happen.
He's Abbas, and he's da' BEST! THANX dude! U RAWK!

Aloha tiki Tribe!
Working -autographing 2014 TIKI calendars for sale today...
Check over in the tiki market place for where to get yours!
Here's a pretty "Day of the Dead" sunset off the Big Island!
Hope u had a great Pumpkin day!

What's really silly about this is they could not have picked out a worse painting to rip off. YOU all saw me paint it RIGHT HERE on TIKI CENTRAL step by step (pages 60 to 70 I think of my thread) From sketch to finish. So, there is no question who's art it is!
Ha, ya' got to laugh, or you'll cry I guess!
Here was the canvas 24" x 48"
Here's the first steps...many folks on line watching . I hope.
Till it was almost done...every single step I put up on line for the world to see.
Me finishing...
Here's the painting done!

Oh well. No one ever said pirates were smart.

They do have a lot of bucks, and a lot of legal folks defending their "work" of putting out items with "art" on them. So I am the little guy in this fight. I don't really know if I'll come out winning or not. These guys are big.

The "salt in the wound" was when an ad for their pirated products (they were selling over 200 items with "Forbidden Island" on them!) appeared on MY OWN face book page.
I saw it and was dumb struck.
So, they were selling my pirated art to my own fans on my own face book page! sheesh!
I had to do something!
Oh well...

And this sale of towels that got nixed...this was my one big order. I finally got noticed by a really big retail co. Who could place a really big order. Now, that's gone. I may never get there again. I'm trying not to be heart broken. Be happy I am still making art...but sometimes it's hard.
Breath...

And this sale of tiki art towels that got nixed... this was my one big order.
I finally got noticed by a really big retail co. Who could place a really big order.
I thought "Wow, I might have really done it, finally..."
But oh well...
FATE.

Now, that's gone. I may never get there again.
I'm trying not to be heart broken. JUST Be happy I am still making art... but sometimes... it's hard.

On 2013-11-05 07:03, Clarita wrote:Oh sorry I got lost between links, and saw the future here, it seems, hahaha! I hope everything goes great really.

Thank you. I don't know. Cafe Press is a huge company, (rumors are around 300 to 500 million a year big, but that's just a rumor I heard I dunno) they are infamous for doing such things to small time artists, and they have a whole legal department. I have this one hawaiian surfer-dude lawyer who is not in is office of the waves are up! (very Big Island). I have no idea if we can do anything to these big company kooks, with their endless cash to stall legal works. I don't have the resources they do. I may be S.O.L.

I may never get the attention of a big retail company again for a large tiki towel order. I promised them an exclusive use of this image and suddenly they see it all over the net on cheap-butt china crap. They thought I was trying to rip THEM off! Sheesh! What a mess.
We had such a good Halloween with Body Glove & the beautiful tiki mugs and the big party, and then now this disaster.
Oh well...
Maybe it's fate.
I should not think too much about it.
Am I only to do so much in tiki? ...and tiki is not for the world?
I am just trying to be ok and happy with making tiki art again, not letting this whole evil thing break my tiki-mojo, and be full of aloha and grateful I can still paint.
I just want to try to focus back on my painting.
But thank you so much for all your love, and support, kind words and aloha.

Does tc have an agreement with Cafepress? I felt that if they'd take Brads art then they'd most likely take others as was mentioned. I took the liberty of searching under tikis. There are 48,000 items. I found a tc mouse pad on page 21. If you type tiki central into the search bar a few more items with the tc design are displayed.